


Little Moments

by C1ashi1dr



Series: Team TARDIS Drabbles [4]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gardens & Gardening, Gen, Nightmares, The Fam being there for the Doctor, but only if you squint a bit, deep talks, hints of unrequited thasmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23297932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C1ashi1dr/pseuds/C1ashi1dr
Summary: It's the little things that makes the Fam so important to her. It's what the Doctor doesn't notice immediately, the little gestures that are extended to her by her human companions that no one but a human could have thought of. It's Graham and his nightly cuppa that he always sets aside for her, whether she's working on the TARDIS (usually the case) or somewhere else (less common but still possible) or Yaz and her habit of sticking around and reading in the console room so the Doctor can have another presence there that isn't immediately demanding attention or Ryan's offers of video games they can play together and get lost in worlds yet unknown.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & Ryan Sinclair, Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan, Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan & Graham O'Brien & Ryan Sinclair
Series: Team TARDIS Drabbles [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1671988
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	Little Moments

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd. we die like men

"Doctor, you haven't eaten all day." Yaz's voice wasn't scolding like the Doctor would have expected to accompany words such as those. No, instead the words are spoken with a softness, a fond exasperation that she feels like Yaz always uses with her. "Y'need to come out and get something, even if it's a package of biscuits."

"Don't need to eat all the time like you lot," The Doctor said, brushing off the concern like it was a bit of dirt or something else from the TARDIS. She can practically hear Yaz deflate, but thinks nothing of it as she hears the footsteps recede. The TARDIS hums something, but she's busy and she'll get food later. Food can wait when the Custard Cream dispenser is right above her head and she can reach up and pluck the sweet from the TARDIS's grasp.

A few hours later, Yaz is right back where she'd been standing (or at least the Doctor thinks so) and she's saying the same thing. The Doctor's not eaten all day and she needs to join her and the rest of the Fam for dinner. And the Doctor brushes it off again because she's not felt her stomach rumbling since an hour ago so she must be fine. But Yaz stays this time around, sits on the floor of the console room, back against the pillar. The Doctor can feel the human's eyes on her, but instead of being uncomfortable as she would usually be, she feels a speck of comfort in it. 

"Y'don't need to lie to me, Doctor. I know you're hungry, just come out and have a cuppa with us," Yaz says and this time the Doctor slips out from under the console, covered head to toe in grease. But Yaz doesn't seem phased, she just looks her up and down for a moment before she's grinning fondly and shaking her head. "Best get ya cleaned up before then, I s'pose. Don' want Graham to kill us for getting oil all over his kitchen."

And though the Doctor is about to protest that it isn't his kitchen, Yaz only waves a hand, encouraging her to follow. So the Doctor does, leaving the tinkering for later. And now she can feel her stomach rumbling again. Traitor.

~~~~~~~~

It was the rare night that the Doctor actually felt the need to sleep, even simply passed out in the library, and, as it always happened when she slept, she dreamed. \One such night, she'd passed out in the library, splayed across one of the armchairs, book on her chest and glasses still on her nose. She'd not been sleeping long when the nightmares started and she was soon moving, shifting, making distressed noises every few seconds. This was how Ryan found her.

He'd been on his way back to his room from a late night of playing video games and when he poked his head round the corner, he saw the door to the library open, light streaming from it. Yaz and Graham had gone to bed long before him, muttering about his obsessions, so it had to be the Doctor in there. But he was hearing some weird noises and Ryan decided to have a quick poke about. Just to be sure all was well.

When he saw the Doctor laying on the armchair, face scronched up (not in the way he was so used to seeing, it was anguish and pain) he carefully made his way towards her.

"Doc?" he asked, gently reaching out to touch her shoulder. The moment his fingers made contact, she gasped, bolted up from her position, blinking rapidly. "Careful there, Doc, it's just me."

"Oh, Ryan," she breathed out, looking up at him. Her hair was disheveled but other than her flushed cheeks and slightly unfocused eyes, she didn't appear to be in physical pain. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle ya. Musta slipped off into sleep while reading. Don't worry, I'm alright."

"You were having a nightmare, weren't ya?" Ryan asked. When she made to protest, Ryan shook his head. "I know one when I see one, Doc. Ya wanna talk about it?" Her silence was the answer that he needed. "I get nightmares sometimes, ya know. Not as much as when we were first traveling, but sometimes they sneak up on me. I dream a lot about my nan. How we coulda saved her or changed it so she could travel with us. I've wondered if it would have been better for me to be in her place so she could see the universe. And then I talk with Graham and he get's this look in his eyes, like he's thought of the same thing. Then he shakes his head and tells me "I miss your nan, son, but I'm glad to be here travelling with you.'" He offered a shaky smile to the Doctor, who was staring at him, slightly confused. "Sorry, tryin to make a point, but I've lost track of it."

"Don't mind it, Ryan, forget things all the time," the Doctor said. "But thanks for sharing." 

"Not a problem Doc. Just trying to make sure you're doing well," Ryan said, though he knew there was a lot more to it than any of them ever knew. Sometimes, he'd see the Doctor look so sad it broke his heart just by looking at her. "If y'ever need to talk..." he left the offer there, but the Doctor didn't make any sign that she'd heard it. 

~~~~~~~~~

"Ya ever try gardening, Doc?" It was a slow day on the TARDIS, where they'd decided to take a rest between adventures. Yaz had been completely knackered and stumbled off for a shower and a long nap after their most recent escapade. Ryan had wandered off to the kitchen, leaving Graham and the Doctor alone in the console room. The Doctor had immediately set to tinkering, much to the annoyance of the TARDIS who sparked and spat steam at her pilot.

"Can't say I have, not in this body," the Doctor said, glaring at the console. "Though I did meet a tree person once. And I'm sure one of my older bodies must have done it at some point. They all seemed like the type."

"D'ya think the TARDIS would have a room for it?" The Doctor was on her feet now, clearly having given up for the moment. She had dark bags under her eyes and she moved with a bit of a limp (probably from the explosion they'd just been in).

"Oh, definitely. The TARDIS has a room for everything!" And then she was bounding off into the depths of the TARDIS, Graham following along behind her. "There's so much in here. Pools, library, a forest for oxygen, I'm sure she's got a proper gardening room." She started poking her head through doors and they meandered down a corridor in much the same way until the Doctor gave a shout of triumph. "Found it! There ya go, Graham, room perfectly ready for gardening."

True to her word, beyond the door that she'd slipped through was a long expanse of a room, just warm enough to be comfortable, with different planters and rows of seeds and pots just ready to be planted. 

"Thanks Doc. Mind giving me a hand?" Graham looked at her and she hesitated for a moment before nodding enthusiastically. They spent plenty of time in silence, the only sounds being the movement of seed packets and the Doctor grunting quietly as she moved pots full of dirt to different places. Sometimes they spoke (the Doctor, mostly, rambling about the different plants and their planets) but it was always about nothing at all. 

And by the time they had finished, the Doctor completely covered in dirt with more than a few scrapes on her hands, Graham could tell that she was feeling better. And she didn't need to know that he'd noticed her taking a kip in the corner while he'd been working on the planters. That could be his secret.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
